Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, on Tuesday, condemned a statement credited to the Ogun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress allegedly insulting a former governor of the state, Gbenga Daniel.
Afenifere said Daniel, who is a chieftain of the group, had a misunderstanding with the incumbent governor, Dapo Abiodun, but instead of the APC in Ogun to make efforts to reconcile the two chieftains, it’s rather causing more division.
Afenifere’s Organising Secretary, Abagun Kole Omololu, in a statement on Tuesday in Akure, urged the two APC chieftains to settle their differences for the development of their state.
According to the statement, “We read with utter dismay a press statement issued by the Ogun State Chapter of the APC in a reaction to an interview recently granted by Senator representing Ogun East, Otunba Gbenga Daniel.
“In this statement, Ogun APC scathingly used unprintable and untoward adjectives to describe Daniel, a former governor who served Ogun State for eight consecutive years. On the other hand, the party ardently defended the state’s incumbent governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, who recently secured re-election to serve his people and the state.
“We take grave exception to the divisive language Ogun APC used in its press statement. Even though the two illustrious sons of Ogun State may disagree on some issues, the approach of Ogun APC, as shown in its press statement, is grossly unethical and utterly unacceptable, especially in this era when our socio-cultural leaders are working behind the scenes to foster harmony and unity among all our elected officials representing us in different capacities both at state and federal levels.
“As a chapter of the ruling party, Ogun APC has the onus of ensuring peace and harmony within its ranks, rather than escalating disagreement between the two leaders, if there is any. The press statement simply suggests that Ogun APC has already taken sides rather than deploying the party’s conflict resolution mechanism and goodwill to make peace between the governor and one of his illustrious predecessors.”
Afenifere also expressed dismay at the conduct of the Ogun APC chapter, stating that the party leadership should have initiated a conflict resolution process to promote peace and harmony among members and leaders, rather than inciting them against each other.
It further warned the Ogun APC, its State Working Committee and its Executive Committee to stop fomenting further division among it’s rank and file.
The statement added, “We hereby warn Ogun APC, its State Working Committee and its State Executive Committee to desist from causing and deepening division in the ranks of its elected officials. If the SWC lacks the capacity to promote peaceful co-existence among its elected officials statewide, it should, in the overall interests of our people, restrain from taking action that will complicate differences among the leaders.”
Afenifere also appealed to both Governor Abiodun and Senator Daniel to call their aides and supporters to order and “stop every action that will publicly denigrate and rubbish our Omoluabi value before the entire world”.